Osama bin Laden is Dead

My father had colleagues working in the World Trade Centre before they were brought down in 9/11. He told me stories about how one colleague survived because he was late to his commute while another literally ran for his life as the towers collapsed, only losing a shoe in the process. My father never did mention what happened to the rest of his coworkers.

Fastforward to May 2011 with Obama announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden by American special forces. From news reports, bin Laden was killed by headshots in his custom mansion along with his family and some associates in Abbottabad, which is about 60km from Islamabad, Pakistan. Initial reaction was a sense of closure, but most Americans used this as an excuse to revel in a military kill mission.

The victims of 9/11 should feel relief knowing that bin Laden is dead given his attack and the grief it caused in America.  Bin Laden’s death was well-deserved in the same sense as a death row inmate being sentenced to die by a firing squad. In a prison execution, the victims or the victim’s families tend to feel a sense of closure, relief, and sadness that the criminal is dead but will live knowing it doesn’t change what had happened. However, when bin Laden was confirmed to be killed, the 9/11 victims were finally at peace, while the rest of the country, which was indirectly affected by 9/11, was celebrating as if they all won the lottery and a major sports championship.

The images shown in New York City and Washington DC had people climbing polls, cheering and chanting “USA! USA! USA!”. Somehow this mindless celebration seems to be in poor taste given that Americans were angered when foreigners celebrated 9/11 and the fact that bin Laden’s death is a Pyrrhic victory knowing that it took almost 10 years, nearly a million lives in collateral damage, and the deep financial costs from invading two countries.

Watching the domestic reaction to bin Laden’s death was almost unreal. The people I saw on TV were either drunken college kids who were just children when 9/11 happened and grew up with nothing but sensationalised accounts of terrorism and with no real emotional connection to the real tragedy. While the other group on TV were mostly out-of-state tourists, who also did not have a real connection to the people in NYC, showing their misguided patriotism by gloating around Ground Zero and Times Square. This type of behaviour towards Osama’s death sends the wrong signal to the world and really shows the trashier side of America (if shows like “Jersey Shore” and “Real Housewives” weren’t enough). It’s only a matter of time before this behavior is unfairly compared to the mob mentality in the Muslim world by California liberals and critics outside of America.

I simply find it sad that a country used to be looked up as a moral and honorable society has fallen to such a dumbed-down existence.  It’s nice to see happy Americans post Toby Keith videos online and chant “USA” but this changes little except closure for 9/11 victims. For me, I really won’t feel real closure until I see a verified photo of his corpse knowing that the government has been misleading the world since the War of Terror started.  His death will only have meaning if it gets American troops home, ends the PATRIOT ACT, and brings back the quality of life that sounds mythical in our current situation. Unfortunately, bin Laden has succeeded in weakening America with attacks designed to restrict freedom, spread terror to the Muslim world, and reduce American society into reactionaries.

With all this in mind, only the 9/11 victims were the real winners from bin Laden’s death while others will use it to advance their petty agendas.

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Congrats to William and Kate!

The Epsilon Data Breach Debacle

In the past two weeks many people have received either email notices of their personal information being compromised or more sophisticated spam. The result of these issues are due to a data breach at Epsilon, a marketing vendor in charge of email and database marketing. Insiders believe that this data breach that was the result of hackers gaining access to super administrator rights to get access to over 50 clients on the company’s DREAM email delivery platform/server. In addition critics believe this hack could have been prevented if Epsilon had made the necessary security fixes after their December email breach that affected Walgreens and when associates in their offices did not click on phishing emails from hackers targeting major email marketing vendors late last year.

Because of this security breach, well over 50 clients had their email data lists compromised. Some clients simply had the users’ email address and names while other clients contained lists that included information such as mobile numbers, home address, credit limits, product ids, and even birth dates to name a few. Alliance Data Systems (ADS), Epsilon’s parent company has downplayed the incident, which is said to be the largest data breach in American history, by saying just 50 clients were breached, that only basic email information was compromised, and that the company was still making record profit in Q1. Despite these assurances, the blogosphere counted well more than 65 companies were compromised, certain people were receiving calls from a fake Citi call centre asking for personal information and bloggers criticised ADS for only caring about short-term profits despite the long-term damage to their Epsilon group and from consumer backlash.

At the height of the Epsilon debacle, #epsilon became a trending topic on twitter. Most of the tweets were complaints from consumers being flooded with email breach apologies from Epsilon or tweets from marketers discussing the fallout from the data breach. Moreover, cheetahmail, Epsilon’s competitor purchased #epsilon and Epsilon as keywords to promote their featured tweets.

For some reason Epsilon was not smart enough to set up a verified twitter page to promote their company and to proactively address end-user concerns. Their parent company, however, did have a verified twitter to discuss public concerns but it was managed by people who are unfamiliar with Epsilon and email marketing.  The ADS tweet was even said to have retweeted instructions from a random tweet on how to opt out of Epsilon emails, which reinforces the perception that Alliance Data Systems doesn’t know the true extent of the breach let alone email marketing.

Even worse was when an alleged Epsilon insider created a fake Epsilon twitter page called FakeEpsilon that mocked the company’s treatment of end-users and the company’s overall handling of the crisis. The fakeepsilon twitter was eventually taken down by twitter.com due to complaints from Alliance Data Systems. Despite being taken down the fakeepsilon twitter page can still be viewed via Google cache.

During this crisis, sources in the company claim that they had their people working on a solution since the breach was detected on 3/30/11. Their developers in India were working nonstop since the crisis to the point where they were not able to celebrate India’s victory in the cricket World Cup and some developers even skipped meals to stay on task. At the height of the crisis many of the Epsilon developers in America and abroad had barely any sleep trying to find a quick fix due to strong pressure from their corporate masters. While Epsilon’s developers were working on solution, their account and project teams were constantly taking well-deserved client complaints or investigating the full extent of the email breaches. Matters were further complicated when traders kept shorting the company stock during the height of the breach.

As of this writing, Epsilon was able to resolve their data breach. End-users are no longer receiving apology emails, epsilon is no longer a trending topic on social sites, and ADS did make record profits in Q1 as promised. The company CEO has made assurances to upgrade security despite, according to critics, laying off most of the original developers to stabilise their stock price and cut costs during the recession.  Although it seems the data breach has not damaged client relations, it is possible that some clients may switch vendors once their contract is up while others may ask for lower fees in contract negotiations. In addition, the government is now in the process in investigating the Epsilon data breach, which will result in fines and more needless regulations in email marketing. Only time will tell what the real impact of the largest data breach in American history will be.

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Thoughts on Arab Revolts and Japanese Tsunami/Meltdown

There isn’t too much going on in the world except for the Arab Revolts. So far Egypt and Tunisia have changed their rulers while it is still in process in Libya and Yemen. Things are just getting started in Syria while the revolt in Bahrain is crushed with the help of some Saudi and Emirati forces. The other countries like Jordan and Morocco are proactively avoiding a revolt by appeasing the disgruntled citizens. It would be nice to see changes in Yemen and Libya with as little violence as possible but it looks like those uprisings are simply beyond the point of nonviolence.

And how does this affect any of us? For one, the price of petrol has already gone up as a result of the instability and it will make it less appealing for foreign investment to go into places where the revolts are ongoing or brutally crushed. On the other hand, it is a boon to oil speculators and the cause of short-term shocks in the financial markets. I can only hope that the people’s revolutions in Yemen and Libya sort themselves out before it starts attracting more unwanted elements.

The Japanese earthquake and tsunami was just devastating. This earthquake was the “big one” pundits, geologists, and survivalists always feared in Japan. It is fortunate that only northeast Japan was affected and I’m glad that 2 of my former classmates and a former instructor are out of danger. Even my penpal who I have not spoken to in over a year is no longer in danger. The major complaints from them are the trains running late or being cancelled (just like with NJTransit trains) and making a strange effort to adjust despite all the loss of life and potential nuclear meltdown.

The people of Japan, like America, are generally pleasant and poorly informed and their government, like America, is run by a group of semi-corrupt idiots. These parallels help explain how Japan, despite all its might and sophistication, could have allowed itself to suffer a devastating tsunami that wiped out its historic communities and leave themselves open to a potential nuclear meltdown. Like Japan, for all its might and ability to wage a War of Terror on the Muslim World, America also allowed itself to suffer a devastating hurricane that ravaged historic regions and left themselves without the means to properly rebuild. There are some similarities to America and Japan and it would be no surprise if America lurches into a Lost Decade like its Japanese friend, but I digress.

In the past, I found it easy to simply repost an article and give a running commentary on the various points written in the article. Now, I find I lost the drive that allowed me to write paragraphs of coherent and focused commentary that made parts of this blog popular in the first place. It will take me some time to get back into that state of mind after being ravaged by a thankless relationship, a thankless jobs, and a thankless circle of friends.

This cartoon made my day:

Strange times

It’s been months since I have started blogging. Blogs from years past focused on personal subjects,  commentary on current events and random reviews.

The blog stopped after a representative/marketing manager from Michael Page international went out of their way to track me down and pressured me in a passive-aggressive way to delete a post detailing my poor experiences dealing with their reps in 2007. The comments from that blog gradually became a hotbed for disgruntled MPI reps and immature reps that supported their company. In any event, mixed reviews of this boutique recruiting firm are all over glassdoor.com if they are out to remove any real or imagined criticisms of their company.

Another reason I stopped blogging was the busy work schedule that kept me from putting time into blogging. Then there was the failed relationship that I involved in but ultimately nothing was ever enough.  These issues lead to a void in my thoughts, feelings and interests.

Recently, I resumed my interests in world events after the people’s revolutions in Egypt and the Middle East. The success in people power and al-Jazeera in contributing to this success gave me a sense of hope and optimism that faded when Obama took office. It really gave people hope that they can make change if they had the means to do so. Some friends expected the uprising to fail and for protests to result in jihadis taking power, but nothing is for certain.  I can only hope that the rebellion in Libya is just as successful as the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings.

In terms of my social life I am really not sure who my friends in NYC really are. It’s been said that friends come and go but my circle of so-called friends is like a revolving door. Some of them simply cut off contact over changes in Facebook while some distance themselves once I switched jobs.  Then there are those who simply disappoint when it mattered and those who will only hang out only if a “cool” mutual friend is there. This is one of the more unpleasant realisations of my time in the city.

My childhood friends are accessible and can be counted. My high school era buddies are good company.  My college friends are one of my core circle of friends. Friends I’ve met around NJ are also good company.  I only wish they were less busy and more accessible.

This is an unpleasant feeling and the only way to get around it is going out and meeting new people. My previous social circle in NYC is not what I thought it was.

There are some things I needed to change now. I will need to start with my Gmats now I have more leisure time that was taken because of an unproductive start-up and issues with my previous job.  I also started exercising again after being in poor shape for months.

I need to keep changing even if people like Obama and my fake NYC friends disappoint me.

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eHarmony.com

I was messing around with the Free Communication event today and I was getting a good vibe from the messages.  Problem is the girl wants to meet and I have no way of replying unless I pay the monthly fees.  Even funnier is that the girl assumes I am subscribing to the service even though I only have an account and I was dating for 3 months before that ended.  I have no idea what the girl looks like and I don’t feel like paying just to find out then get stuck with the subscriber fee.

My 2010

The start of 2010 was the beginning of the new decade and the end of the previous one.  The previous decade was marred by fears of terrorism, the war of terror, a gilded economic boom, and an erosion of values.  There were some triumphs and some disappointments in this year and I can only hope that things will get better in the end.

My 2010 started on a shaky footing after a dismal 2009 with the decline in my career and my relationship.  Things were never the same after the end of 2009 with my previous relationship.  Nothing I did was able to make it work and nothing I did was ever enough for her and she talked of breaking up.  She had the nerve to go back to work after our vacation was ruined from the 2009 blizzard and didn’t seem to care what I did during the days she was working since I couldn’t have roll over vacation days.  It was really disappointing to see that she would choose her job that she complains about over me even though I thought she would not actually go back to work during our supposed vacation time together.

Things at work were even worse.  My acting manager decided to scapegoat me by giving me a poor evaluation that insinuated that it was my fault that the client switched vendors.  Nothing I did seemed to amount to anything at my job either even though I worked weekends, late hours and even on extremely tight schedules to meet the client’s business goals.  Most of all, in this evaluation the manager admitted to never discussing my work with the client but decided that I had poor communications and interpersonal skills with them.  I also learned that my previous manager had decided to badmouth me to this acting manager before he resigned out of spite when the client dropped us.  I really was in doubt if I really was that horrible of an employee and it was made worse when the manager lied about not giving me any sort of raise or cost of living adjustment due to economic difficulties (when in fact they were planning on laying me off).

With these problems, I was near a low point at the start of the year.  Things kept going wrong and nothing was working.  Phone interviews and online applications for positions went absolutely nowhere.  There were times when I was told I would get a second round interview only to have them take it back at the last minute because there was a more experienced person who was willing to work for much less.  It also didn’t help that Barack Obama kept saying nice things about the economic and society in general despite living a vastly different reality than his Disney-friendly ravings.

I was angry and felt powerless.  My now-ex was still having problems at work and would call me in the middle of office hours asking if I could stay over at her place in the middle of the week.  I told her that I couldn’t promise anything and I was having my own problems; but it seemed she only cared about her issues.  I wound up not going and forgetting about it when I decided to go to a happy hour with my colleagues to get away from work and a waning relationship.  She later called me in anger wondering why I wasn’t there and I finally had enough.  I yelled back to her on the phone and was just tired of these complaints that nothing I did is enough.   After that she decided that we shouldn’t meet up that weekend and it seemed like she had fun with her friends while I was alone that weekend.

Back at the office, I was still angry and in doubt if I performed poorly for the client.  I later asked the client if I did poor work for her that would call for a poor evaluation and they told me that I was generally able to complete projects on time and made sure the product was always to their standards.  It was really frustrating to realise that my client was more understanding and supportive than my account team.  Under normal circumstances, the client is typically less understanding and more difficult than my account team and supervisors.  Around this time, the same manager who gave me a poor evaluation reached out to me to do several ad hoc projects for the same client who decided to switch to another vendor since their current vendor was having difficulties.  The nerve that this bastard had to give me false praises despite scapegoating me for his problems and his inability to support the client relationship.

As things at work got worse, I spent less and less time with my then girlfriend.  It was at a point where I was uncomfortable talking to her because anything I did or said would just get her upset regardless of the intent.  As things kept getting worse, I managed to move most of my belongings out of her apartment and leave.  I should have called her to let her know I was moving out but it would have led to more mindless drama which I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with.   She wound up breaking up with me on facebook and we ended up fighting on the phone when we were supposed to be working things out.  When everything was said and done, she said she was never happy with me and I felt that anything I did was never enough.  Her parents would later try to talk her into making an effort to get back together but I just didn’t want to deal with anything.

The relationship had died. Problems at work had played its part in relationship problems and problems in the relationship directly affected my work.  After the break up, most of our mutual friends took her side and a few took mine not unlike children taking sides when their parents divorce.  In the meantime, I started to prepare for the eventual lay off by cleaning out my desk and spending time with my colleagues as much as possible. My HR had simply told me to look at the company website for positions instead of making any real effort at finding people who needed resources in the office.  One of my office VPs told a colleague of mine that I “wasn’t really part of the office” while the GM doesn’t know I exist. Also, the work began to dry up and I spent most of my office hours reading blogs or playing mafia wars on facebook.

I spent my spare time with some friends and those who had free time going out and keeping my mind occupied while my present universe was falling apart.  Some family members expressed concern at my present situation while one American cousin gloated at the fact I was no longer working in NYC and had a failed relationship.  Then again, this same cousin was the one who invited all his random church buddies to his own father’s funeral and tried to get me drunk to help his friend get information from me.

I was on the way out of the company until my client reached out and provided positive feedback to my then-manager.  As a result of this feedback, he decided to help a manager in my office fill a resource need by referring me for an internal interview to join their team.  One of my colleagues was expressing support and provided advice while I was still confused about why an internal interview was needed when they had simply done transfers.  The internal interview went well and I had a permanent position with no immediate danger of being laid off.  The only person who seemed annoyed at all this was my HR because she had to fill extra paperwork to recognise the transfer.  I knew that I was being laid off because anyone in our department  who did not have their desk moved to the other floor during our office move was let go after the move was complete.  It turned out that I was not on the list for the office move until the last minute.

I celebrated my non-layoff and proceeded to learn things in the new account.  Most of the work was less demanding than my previous assignment but it was often chaotic since I had to report to two managers with different personalities.  The new managers were both patient and knowledgeable and I was glad to learn from them.  It was difficult getting back into a normal working routine after spending months loosing interest in the job, becoming unfocused from problems and easily loosing my temper due to pent up anger.  Most of these early months in the new team were shaky since I often lost focus when performing routine tasks and lacked any real interest in the work.  It was really unfair to my managers and to myself.

As I was settling into my new team, the manager from the previous account, who scapegoated me, reached out to my current manager for my help.  I learned from my manager that two of their account team members had quit, which was not surprising since I learned from both that they left because they did not like the “culture of cost cutting”, felt the client was more supportive of their work and had fears of being scapegoated.  As a result, the previous manager wanted my help since I was the most knowledgeable of the account and had a working relationship with the client, which was just ironic since he wrote on my evaluation that I was a detriment and had a poor relationship with the client.  It was one of the first times I argued with my current manager over this arrangement since I had no interest in going back and I was still angry over the problems he caused me. Despite my concerns, they still went ahead of this and had me train some people from our India office to do the work.  My Indian colleagues were impressed and were surprised I was not working on this.

I knew from this episode that no matter what team I was working and what clients, I would still be taken for granted and affected by other problems tied to the company.  I once thought I would have a career with this company that involved new experiences and professional growth, but I started to see this as just a job and my colleagues were the only reason I would stay on.  These doubts would linger in my mind to the point where they would sometimes affect my focus while I am working.

My life outside of work was rather interesting. I had time to hang out with new friends along with getting in touch with old friends that I had no seen for some time.  It was good company finally meeting my penpal from Australia and an old friend who had recently returned from studying abroad and needed good company.  During this time, I didn’t pursue any girls for dating or a relationship since I was still recovering from my previous relationship and because the girls that seemed interested were playing games.

My life for most of 2010 involved routine work and hanging out with friends in my spare time.  It was a pretty relaxing time until several of my colleagues started leaving the company and when my friends started getting busy with their own commitments.  During a night out with a friend, I ran into another friend that I had no seen in almost two years.  When we first met we were both volunteers at a political campaign.  I was focusing my time writing blog posts supporting my candidate and occasionally expressing concern over political issues while he made well-edited videos highlighting events from our local campaign office.

Since the campaign ended, we went our separate ways; I wound up working in NYC while he received an offer to work in DC as a result of the work he did in the campaign. A few years later we run into each other by accident at a local lounge where I learn he is now an assistant producer for a popular show that has now gone to a daily format.  It was moments like this that made me wonder what I was doing with my life while my friend stuck with his interests and wound up reaping all the fruits of his labour while I was scapegoated by my company and coping from a failed relationship.  It was very unpleasant and bothered me for the rest of that night.

I decided to improve my focus at my job despite what had happened.  I reached out to my GM to be included in the weekly office meetings with the hope that I would be included in the weekly presentations and for some form of acknowledgment that I existed.  I was included in the meetings but I was never asked to present anything despite my colleagues joking that I would eventually get picked to present like them.  I asked for my colleague to see if I could be part of the department group that was involved setting the agenda and discussing challenges in the meetings but nothing came of it.  Even though I was still in the office, I still felt I was not really a part of it in any professional capacity.

I really was bothered by the idea that I was falling behind.  My actor friend had turned into a producer of a hit TV show, several of my colleagues were either leaving the company for better opportunities or were promoted.  All of this was happening while I was still being paid the same wages and hitting an invisible ceiling.  Other opportunities for training and growth were dashed out of a need to cover while my managers or colleagues were away.  It was even more awkward having to deal with my predecessor and on weekly calls after she resigned and went to work for the client (I am still surprised my company allowed this conflict of interest to happen). Even my asshat cousin managed to get a job in NYC and bragged about it.

I started looking for new opportunities again with the help of a professionally updated resume.  I eventually was contacted by a recruiter who told me of an opportunity at an agency.   It took me 3 rounds of interviews and serious consideration before I signed the offer letter.  I submitted my resignation and thanked my current manager for being patient and investing time to help me adjust to the new account team.  It is going to be a bittersweet departure, but I need to move on after everything that has happened.

On a personal note, I started seeing someone not too long ago with the help of some friends who had set us up.  I really hope it works out.

Season’s Gropings from the TSA

Dear Patriot,

TSA agents are gloved-up and ready to meet you as you travel this holiday season.

While Thanksgiving Day offers choices such as what kind of stuffing you prefer and just how much mashed potatoes is too much, flying to your destination may require deciding whether to be ogled or felt up.

If you and your kids, parents, or grandparents refuse to be seen naked, the TSA will proceed with an invasive “pat-down” procedure that is simply sexual assault by another name.

Campaign for Liberty warned about the TSA trampling our freedoms in January 2010, following the “Christmas Day Bomber’s” failed attempt to set off his “underwear bomb.”

As a result of the TSA constantly trying to play catch up, we must now take off our shoes, place our little liquids in Ziploc bags, and choose between potentially harmful, irradiating naked porno-scanners or a sexual assault that strips us of what dignity we have left.

As with other massive federal government overreaches, the TSA thinks telling us this is necessary for “our safety” allows it to do whatever it wants to us, including shredding our Fourth Amendment rights.

The government spends tens of billions on the TSA, our foreign intelligence gathering, and creating “No Fly Lists.”

Yet it was the flight crew and passengers, not a wasteful bureaucracy, that stopped the “Shoe bomber” and “Christmas Day Bomber,” even though the Christmas Day Bomber’s father tried to warn the American government about what his son was doing well in advance.

Tell your U.S. representative it is beyond time to restore Americans’ dignity when they travel. Urge them to immediately cosponsor H.R. 6416, the “American Traveler Dignity Act.”

Also, call the TSA at 1-866-289-9673 and email them at TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov to let them know what you think about their forced choice between pornography or sexual assault.

In a free country, we should never have to choose between total exposure or assault just to get on a plane. And we should never stand idly by while fellow citizens like cancer patients and survivors are humiliated into submitting to a bureaucrat’s idea of “security.”

While there are currently just under 400 porno-scanners in 68 airports across America, the plan is to have more than 1,000 scanners in airports by the end of 2011.

This is the time to demand change in the TSA’s policies – before their plans are fully in place and while the American people’s anger is growing.

Contact Congress today. Tell them you refuse to give up your liberties and that you’ve had it with the TSA!

In Liberty,

John Tate

President

Caprica, Season 1, Episode 14 – “BLOWBACK”

So Caprica was cancelled as of last week by the Syfy network, but the show lives on in Canada’s SPACE network.  From the previous episode, Lacey is forced to join the STO training alongside other kids who either joined voluntarily or were forced by their STO-loving parents.  The kids all board a freighter and set off to Gemenon before being boarded by a bunch of anti-monotheistic Polytheists.

They proceed to start killing the kids until their demands are met or when all the hostages abandon their fates.  In the crisis, the ginger kid is killed despite begging for his life and a scared girl who accepts her fate without dropping her beliefs.  Only one kid decides to sell out for some food and peace of  mind.  While this is occurring, Lacey and her new friend try  to loosen a pipe and check the guards for an opening to fight back.  When Lacey is taken as the next victim, she gives her friend the signal and he and a few others fight back.  As she is letting the polytheists have it, her handler tells her that this is all staged and it is basically a test on how STO “fighters” endure stress.  They then go back to their way to STO headquarters in Gemenon.

At the orientation party, the kids who passed the test celebrate and are told that this is the start of hard work and dedication.  Outside the party Lacey’s friend notices that all the kids who failed the staged hostage crisis, were being executed by the Cylon U-87 prototypes that were smuggled to the STO by the Halatha.  The kids who were killed were the ginger kid who begged for his life, the kid who sold out for food and four other kids who did nothing the entire time.

In other parts of the story, the viewers learn that the STO has a high-ranking mole in the GDD, who turns out to be that GDD agent’s boss.  The agent is suspicious when he learns that a high-ranking agent had entered and removed evidence (Zoe’s STO pin) relation to his Graystone investigation.  Also,  the agent had been asked by his boss to reveal the name of his confidential informant within the STO or future resources will be withheld.  The agent decides to frame, Clarice’s co-wife, Marbeth, as her informant to figure out if his boss is really working for the STO. As it turns out the boss leaks the info to Clarice who then kills Marbeth and removes all ID of her by cutting off her head, hands and feet.  This bluff helps the agent give Amanda the resources and leeway to continue spying on Clarice.

While this is happening the GDD boss was able to drop the pin off to Clarice, who later begins extracting the data for her resurrection program.

After reprimanding Sam for trying to supply weapons to Taurons, the Guatrau winds up arming the STO with prototype Cylons without Daniel’s knowledge.  Daniel tries to reason with the Gautrau who agrees to stop shipments to the STO if he can develop his resurrection program in 2 weeks.  After this talk the Guatrau orders Sam to kill Daniel once his work is done.

So in this episode we learn that the Cylons learned about God through their use by the STO, who may have programmed them with religion, contrary to what was revealed in the Battlestar Galactica series along with the crude form of AI and resurrection.  In any event, “Caprica” will need to tie up all loose ends with some TV movies as a way to truly end the show and lead in to the new Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Crome prequel series that talks about the original Human-Cylon war.

Decisions tomorrow and intellectual bankruptcy

As everyone is aware, tomorrow is election day. During the midterm elections, many may have the knee-jerk reaction to punish the President and his “allies” in Congress.

Truth-be-told – the economy is in much better shape now than the day Obama took office. While his term hasn’t been perfect, things are dramatically better than during Q4 2008 when he was first elected to office, and Q1 2009 when Bush left office. The economy is growing, the stock market has improved, and while huge deficits are amounting, deflation remains as much a concern as inflation, at this point.

The housing market is still in bad shape, to be sure, but TARP has proven to be a success and GM and Chrysler are posting profits. In Oct 2008, an economic Armagedon was hitting America. Today, America is coming off the ropes and with some sweat equity, will be back.

That said, if you believe that Obama is the devil, a Kenyan born citizen, a Muslim, a Marxist, or a Socialist – you need to look up the definitions of these words, and get back to me. This isn’t for you. Chances are you are insane and need to seek serious mental help, or be put on very high doses of Haldol.

We, as citizens, have a civic duty every election day. We must vote not only for what is in our own best interest, but the best interest of the country as a whole.

What no politician in American will admit to you is that this country has been “sold out,” starting the day Ronald Reagan became POTUS and Free Trade and the mantle of supply side economics became the “laws of the land,” so to speak. NAFTA, CAFTA, and other free trade agreements have destroyed and eviscerated the very engine that created the middle-class in America.

The manufacturing jobs in America are not coming back. If you’re not a professional in this country, or if you aren’t born into a family of money, chances are, you’re not moving “ahead” in life. Your children will almost certainly have a worse standard of living than you did as corporations seek to continually move off-shore to save pennies, and create the never-ending race to the bottom. Education is no longer the marker for success. There are plenty of people who attended Universities, who have higher levels of education than did their parents, who due to rising tuition costs, lack of health-care, etc. will undoubtedly be worse off than their parents.

No politician in America will tell you that. Chances are, you will make about 30% on average less per year, inflation adjusted, than your parents did unless you are a professional of some degree or have a specific trade. So, rather than going to college for 2 years to drop out, push your family members or kids into trades. Become plumbers. Electricians. Machinists. Take jobs/positions that can’t be sent off-shore.

We have had politicians in this country lie to you for the past 30+ years. There is no such thing as a tax cut, just like 5+3 doesn’t equal 6. A tax cut without subsequent cuts in government spending only represents a tax shift.

Anyone who believes in this fallacy about cutting taxes, absent cuts in spending, has been duped.

This means that a tax cut combined WITH HIGHER government spending ONLY guarantees that taxes in the future will need to be higher unless the government wants to perpetually run deficits. This of course, carries the burden of higher inflation and interest rates, which will crowd out private investment, and act as a tax on ones disposable income.

Conservatives love to talk about generational theft. How Obama’s high spending is stealing from your grandkids. Again – if you look at the last Bush budget and the last Obama budget, federal spending isn’t the cause of the change in the deficit. The cause is simply an issue of revenue – meaning – that not as many taxes are being collected because of the huge amount of job losses from 2007-2009.

This has been the game of the Republicans/conservative movement for the past 30 years. They talk about cutting taxes, but NEVER deliver on promises to reign in spending. The past Republican administration saw an increase in farm subsidies, defense spending, and spending on Medicare Part D – a NEW ENTITLEMENT. This came from a man who conservatives had wet dreams about until Hurricane Katrina hit.

I have asked numerous movement conservatives and even emailed Republican congressional candidates about what they plan to cut in the government.

The only answers I have gotten are that they want to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and they want to slow the rate of spending or try to eliminate the Department of Education.

Imagine that. Let’s say you are in a lot of debt in your house. You and your spouse talk about ways to cut your debt and eliminate your credit card balances. Let’s say you spend $175 a month going out to dinner. Well, if you want to get rid of your debts, a good way to start would be to eat in. Eat out less. Don’t buy expensive clothes. Cancel your HBO subscription. Don’t get your nails done 3 times a month. Those are all valid ways to get rid of your household debt. If you spent $175 a month eating out, would you say that a good way to save money would be to buy deodorant on sale because that may save you 40 cents a month, while continuing to spend $17 a month on HBO and $175 a month eating out? No. Of course you wouldn’t.

The budget deficit this year is 1.3 trillion. Eliminating the deficit via fiscal austerity, which usually means cutting government spending, will be tantamount to taking an axe to your arm. Moreover, it will throw the economy into a depression if you simply eliminated the deficit by cutting spending.

Taxes will need to go up. But, how much will they need to go up, and on who.

The Democrats are campaigning on raising taxes only on the rich. There is probably not enough money to only soak the rich unless we can implement a real progressive tax in which those earning more than 1 million a year pay in excess of 40% as a top marginal rate. The Democrats and the Republicans, those who aren’t idiots, likely know this.

Taxes will likely have to increase on everyone.This is the worst kept secret in Washington.

But, most importantly, we are in dire need of entitlement reform in this nation. And, while both parties know this, AND THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY SHOULD BE PUSHING THIS, neither is.

Why – because the Republican base is composed of old senile people who are on Medicare and SS who don’t realize that smaller government means LESS BENEFITS FOR THEM. Once they start to have their benefits cut, they will simply vote out their Republican lackeys who will do the same as the Democrats; buy their votes with more government goodies.

At least the Democrats make no fucking bones about wanting to utilize tax-payer money for increases in social services and welfare.

The Republicans/conservatives are supposed to be against this.

And sadly, even though I’ve offered my vote up for sale, for just a pittance of an educated response, I get that the GOP wants to cut 1/1000 of the federal government’s budget to help eliminate the deficit.

It’s almost shocking to me how stupid they think I am, but judging by those who have voted for their candidates and been duped by this, maybe I’m the one who is stupid for thinking I could get a coherent response.

Unless one wants to talk about cutting SS, Medicare/Medicaid, defense spending, or payments on the debt, one is not serious about deficit reduction.

Do you think all of those Republicans who come from rural districts and represent agricultural states are going to vote to end agricultural subsidies 70-90% of which go to Big Agra companies which have PROFITS in the millions/billions each year?

Surely nobody reading this is that naive of a fucking sap.

I hate Medicaid/welfare leeches as much as anyone. It sickens me every time I look at my paycheck to see how much the government steals from me and wastes on people who have little-to-no desire to improve their own lives.

It also sickens me to see how capital is considered the superior of labor and how deregulation has twice in America’s history nearly destroyed capitalism, one time contributing to WW2, and how the conservative party cheer-lead military operations in Iraq, a country we had 0 business invading and occupying for what will soon be longer than US forces fought in WW1 and WW2 combined. This war cost will cost the treasury close to $4 trillion when all is said and done. $4 trillion for what. At least the stimulus money was spent in America. Money was used in Iraq to bribe politicians, pay off Sunnis from joining Al Queada, and pay for the building of bridges in Iraq that would only be blown up weeks later by IED’s. Talk about the inefficiencies of government.

The Democracts are far from perfect. They have helped to create a sense of entitlement in ghettos across the nation in order to pander to race hustlers that continually spoon feed illiterates that people are held down because of the system and that if only we throw more money at these people that they can rise up.

But, the Republican leadership and conservative movement is 100% intellectually bankrupt. They say they favor small government, but apparently to them, this simply means selling more and more government bonds to the Communists to ensure that the Paris Hilton’s of the world inherit their parent’s wealth to buy more Ferraris.

Why can’t a single Republican get on a microphone and have the balls to say, “I want to cut SS transfer payments by 3% each of the next 5 years for people with incomes over $40,000″?

As it stands, no serious person, with a functioning cerebrum, can vote for such nonsense.

It is intellectually bankrupt to say that you support less intrusive government and then go out and vote for someone who wants to criminalize abortion, prohibit gays from serving in the military, continue the drug war, and simply cut taxes while raising spending.

This really is like a train-wreck from the Twilight show.

On Nov. 2nd, I urge you to vote for the “socialist.” At least then, you get what you vote for.